Tatarstan - The Other Russia

Flag of Tatarstan

It took a while after the break-up of the Soviet Union in the late 80's for 'the Stans' to secure a solid place in the mental geography of people outside the Soviet world and, when I moved to Uzbekistan in 2001, most people had never heard of it. 

All that changed after September 11 and now people will have a vague awareness of the existence of countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakstan and Turkmenistan, countries that were, for so long, hidden behind the name 'Soviet Union'. 

Nowadays, the Russian Federation still hides a lot of smaller 'countries' within its borders and the Republic of Tatarstan is one of the most prominent entities of this Federation - nominally independent, it's still very much part of Russia, although many non-Russians won't even know that it exists. 

Ever since I lived in Russia, I've been quite fascinated by its 'Federal subjects' and Tatarstan is just one of the Russian Federation's 22 republics! It's very much 'the other Russia' - Muslim, historically a rival power to Moscow and, in recent years, one of the wealthier parts of the country. 

Kazan Kremlin by Mikhail Koninin

Although other republics like Chechnya and Ingushetia have captured the news headlines in recent years, I think if Tatarstan really became independent from Russia, it would be the beginning of the end for the Russian Federation. Having said that, Tatarstan's population is tiny compared to the rest of Russia (less than 4 million) and Moscow is careful to keep the power of the Federation flowing centrally, so regional capitals, like Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, remain relatively unimportant backwaters. 

I also come from a European republic (Ireland) that is part of a federation (the European Union), but it would be a mistake to think of republics in the Russian federation in the same way and being nominally independent doesn't give Tatarstan a place at the world table of nations, nor does it mean that Tatarstan is seen as a nation globally. In terms of Tatarstan's place in the world, it's very much part of a strong and unified Russian state. 

Perhaps this explains why I'm already struggling to get a sense of the culture of Tatarstan and whether it's through books, movies or music, it seems as though all roads lead back to Moscow. As with many of the nations within Russia, Tatarstan has an officially sanctioned culture, but it's not at all globalised and I would need to be a Turkic language specialist to engage with the cultural outputs that are sanctioned by the Russian state. 

Kazan shop front by Nat Urazmetova

I'm not saying that Russia wilfully blocks access to the cultural achievements of Tatarstan, rather that anyone producing music, literature or movies in Tatarstan will need to go through Russian culture first, before it can reach a global audience. I think this is the sacrifice of belonging to a Federation and it seems as though Tatarstan doesn't have its own 'cultural conversation' with our globalised world. 

I'm deliberately talking about the 'culture of Tatarstan' here, rather than Tatar culture. Tatar culture is a more complicated thing, as there are Tatars all over Russia and Central Asia, including the well-known Tatar minority in Crimea. In my blog posts, I want to concentrate on issues, culture and people who are somehow connected to Tatarstan, whether or not they are also connected to Tatar culture. 

Interestingly, most artists, musicians etc that I have been able to find are only half-Tatar and I think that says a lot about a modern Tatarstan that has found its place in the world as a partner in the shadow of Russian culture. That's why I've called Tatarstan 'the other Russia' and I'm intrigued by the influence of Tatar culture on mainstream Russian culture - I believe that, whether people recognise it or not, cultural imperialism can flow both ways.  Perhaps Tatarstan represents another side of Russian culture, which is Asian, Islamic and multicultural, whereas many people see Russia as European, Christian and monocultural. 

I've started my research by reading Daniel Kalder's book The Lost Cosmonaut (2007), an anti-tourist's account of his travels to Tatarstan, Kalmykia, Mari-El and Udmurtia. I think Kalder does Tatarstan an injustice in his description - I travelled to Kazan in 2007 and it's a more interesting place than he makes it out to be. 

Something I learned from Kalder's book though was that Kazan became very famous in the 1970's because of its gangs! Gangs were something that were pretty much unheard of during Soviet times and they were a social problem usually associated with the cities of the capitalist West, so Kazan's gangs brought turmoil to the otherwise compliant Soviet nation.

Kazan market by Nat Urazmetova

Interestingly, these gangs became the building blocks of the corrupt form of capitalism that Russia has inherited from the Soviet Union and it was my first real piece of evidence regarding Tatarstan's influence on Russia as a whole. 

Tatarstan is situated at the heart of the Volga region and is, therefore, quite a suitable second choice in terms of my Learning about Russia. I first blogged about Russia (Urals Federal District) in 2010/11 and you can see an overview of the topics I covered on my final blog post about the Urals. I also quite sneakily referenced Kazan a couple of months ago, when I was blogging about the Solomon Islands, as Kazan was the host city for this year's FINA World Championships.

I look forward to learning more about Tatarstan and Russia over the coming weeks and I hope you'll join me on my virtual learning journey.

Image credits:

The image of Kazan kremlin is by Flickr member, Mikhail Koninin.  Mikhail is from Novosibirsk and you can see more of his images on his photostream.

The images of the Kazan shop front and Kazan market are by Flickr member Nat Urazmetova, who is originally from Ufa in Bashkortostan, but now lives in London.

Thanks to Nat and Mikhail for sharing these images with us, using the Creative Commons license.  

Xinjiang - siz Uyghurcha bilamsiz?

Uyghur is a Turkic language, one of the many spoken in a crossbow starting in Western China and finishing in European Turkey.  An estimated 180 million people are native speakers of a Turkic language.  Not surprisingly, Turkish is the most widely spoken Turkic language, with around 83 million native speakers.  Uyghur has between 8 and 10 million speakers, mostly in Western China, but also in other parts of Central Asia and parts of the world where the Uyghur diaspora has settled. 

The Uzbek connection

It really surprised me to learn that, according to modern Linguists, Uyghur is more closely related to Uzbek than it is to Kazakh and Kyrgyz.  When I lived in Uzbekistan, I had a choice of three languages to learn (Uzbek, Tajik or Russian) and I chose Russian, the safest and easiest option.  I did pick up the odd word of Uzbek and certainly got used to hearing the language spoken, in official meetings, at the University in Samarkand and on TV (although not usually at my friends' homes, where people spoke Tajik).  I also read a lot about Stalin's linguists and how they defined the Turkic languages of Central Asia in a way that gave a separate linguistic identity to the ethnic peoples of their newly-created Socialist republics.  I was left with the impression that Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Karakalpak and others were really a common language, superficially differentiated by Stalinist linguists.  I did feel that Uzbek sounded a bit different that the others, but put that down to the fact that my ear was more attuned to the intricacies of Uzbek phonetics.

Sign in Uzbek by Ole Rousing

Looking at the classifications of other 'western' linguists, I find Uzbek is included in a branch of Turkic languages called Chagatai or Southeastern Common Turkic.  Granted, Uzbek is in another separate branch within this grouping, but it still surprises me that Uzbek, despite the geographical distance from Western China, would be closer to Uyghur than Kazakh or Kyrgyz, which are right beside Uyghuristan in the geographical continuum. 

How languages are classified

Perhaps trying to decide whether Uyghur is closer to Uzbek than it is to Kazakh is splitting hairs somewhat and there are lots of other factors that come into play (historical, economic, political etc) when looking at how languages have influenced each other.  It would seem as though the Turkic group is very well-defined and the methods of classifying languages, eg. by vocabulary comparison, provide linguists with consistent and satisfying results.

A very obvious principle of historical linguistics is that the basic words for human existence, such as 'head', 'man', 'family', 'sun' should be similar in languages that share a common ancestor - whereas words for new technological developments, ie. things which might not have existed in the original culture but were introduced by other cultures, through trade or invasion, will generally result in a word that is borrowed from another language family.

Bilingual sign by Toasterhead

English is full of words that have been borrowed from French and Latin and you can imagine the English sitting on the floor eating pig with their fingers before the Norman invasion and sitting on chairs consuming pork with cutlery, after the Normans invaded!  In modern times, languages like Icelandic, German, Irish and Welsh have gone to great lengths to find more 'indigenous' ways of describing modern technological developments such as computers, television and radio.  

An analysis of Turkic vocabulary


As an experiment, I want to compare a range of words across some of the Turkic languages, to see how similar they really are.  I have included Chinese, Tajik and Mongolian to see what influence, if any, non-Turkic neighbours have had on Uyghur.  I've used Google Translate for Turkish and Chinese and there's a great website called www.uighurdictionary.com which provided me with the translations to Uyghur that I needed.

English	Turkish	Uzbek	Uyghur	Tajik	Mongolian	Chinese
Man	adam/erkek	adam	er/insan	odam/inson	erkin	Nánzǐ
Mother	Anne	acha	ana	modar	ech	Mǔqīn
Sun	güneş	kun	quayash/aptap	oftob	nar	Yángguāng
Water	su	suv	su	ob	oos	Shuǐ
Finger	parmak	barmoq	barmaq	angusht	khooroo	Shǒuzhǐ
Dog	köpek	it	it	sag	nokhoi	Gǒu
Camel	deve	tuja	töge	shootoor	teme	Luòtuo
Rice	pirinç	plov	gürüch	birinch	tutarga	Shuǐdào
Arrow	ok	uq	oq/tir	tir	soom	Jiàntóu
Train	tren	poyezd	poyuz	poyezd	galt tereg	Huǒchē
Television	televizyon	televizor	téléwiziye	televizor	televiziin gazar	Diànshì
Computer	bilgisayar	kompyuter	kompyutér	kompyuter	kompyuter	Jìsuànjī
electricity	elektrik	svet	éléktir/tok	barkh	tsakheelgan	Diànlì
Airport	havaalanı	aeroport	ayriport	furudgokh	niisekh ongotsni buudal	Jīchǎng
election	seçim	saylov	saylam	intikhob	songool'	Xuǎnjǔ

It's obvious from this comparison that there are fundamental links between Uyghur and the other Turkic languages.  There are a few similarities with Tajik but Chinese influence isn't very apparent from this list, except perhaps with the 'w' sound in téléwiziye, which seems more like Chinese than Russian.

Interestingly, modern Turkish tends to look for more Turkic-sounding words for modern inventions, like the Turkish words for airport and computer.  The influence of Mongolian seems to have been negligible, although one of the most interesting comparisons was the word for 'water', which seems to be similar in the Turkic languages, Mongolian and even Chinese.

If you want to hear what Uyghur sounds like, I'm pasting in a video from YouTube.  The best thing I could find is a video by Christian missionaries, which is a telling insight into the extent of Western interest in modern Uyghur language. 



Image credits and references:

I have a few reference books on Linguistics, that I use when I'm researching for this blog.  One of them is  Kenneth Katzner's The Languages of the World, which is my 'bible' of language classification.

The sign written in Uzbek, warning drivers to beware of oncoming trains, is from flickuser olerousing who is from Oslo in Norway.  You can find out more about Ole on his blog http://olerousing.blogspot.com/

The sign showing a bilingual sign in Uyghur and Chinese is by flickruser toasterhead who is originally from Long Island but now lives in Arlington, Virginia.  You can see more on his blog: http://toasterheadsblogosphere.blogspot.com/

Xinjiang - Qarshi alimiz, huān yíng!

It's approximately 6,426 miles (10,341 kilometres) from Milwaukee in Wisconsin to Urumqi in Xinjiang, the next place on my learning journey!  Xinjiang is nestled around the Tian Shan mountains, with the Central Asian republics of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to the west, Russia and Mongolia to the north, Pakistan, India and Tibet to the south and the Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Gansu to the east.  It's right in the heart of the Eurasian land mass and, geopolitically, has been very much at the centre of human history, whether as an Empire in its own right, conquering neighbours far and wide, or as a buffer zone between China and the rest of Eurasia. 

Xinjiang has a fascinating history, but you'd hardly know it, so low was the region's profile in terms of world affairs in the 20th century.  Whilst Tibet has ranked high in terms of Western causes célèbres, the situation in Xinjiang has languished in obscurity - only the protests of March 2008 and even worse violence in Urumqi in July 2009 brought Xinjiang to the world's attention. 

What's in a name?

It's pretty indicative of the complex political nature of Xinjiang that the hardest part in beginning this blog post was finding an acceptable name for this part of the world.  The choice is between the Chinese name for it's western part, Xinjiang (or more accurately, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) and the Uyghur name Uyghuristan (which hints at the idea of an independent republic, like the other 'stans' in Central Asia).  


Taklamakan Desert by Kiwi Mikex

Is it Xinjiang then?

My main reason for using Xinjiang wasn't a political one, but because it starts with the letter X and, therefore, fits quite nicely into my alphabetic approach to learning about the world!  I must admit, I don't, personally, like the term Xinjiang, which translates roughly as 'new territory' and smacks of 19th century colonialism, the period when this term was first used by the Chinese.  Previously, the Chinese called this region Xiyu meaning 'western region' which is only marginally better!  Some people might object to using a Chinese name at all, considering the legacy of colonialism in this part of Asia, however, I think the situation in Xinjiang is slightly different than in Tibet, the main reason being that more than 40% of Xinjiang's current population is Han Chinese (compared to 6% of Tibet's population).  Like it or not, Han Chinese people are a significant part of modern Uyghuristan and will also help shape the region's future. 

What about East Turkestan?

Many Uyghurs might also use the name East Turkestan, which causes a lot of offence in China, as it's associated with Islamic militant groups.  I'm not too fond of this term either, as it also sounds colonial (from the West and Russia this time) and is a bit old-fashioned in a 21st century where West Turkestan has ceased to exist.  It also suggests that the population of the region is exclusively Turk but, apart from the Han Chinese, Xinjiang is also home to non-Turkic peoples, such as Hui, Tajiks, Russians and Mongols.  It's true that the name Uyghuristan is even more exclusive, as it doesn't even include other Turkic peoples, like the Kazakhs or Kyrgyz, but we already have Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan etc., so it would be good to recognise the cultural importance of the Uyghurs in this region.  What's more, the term Uyghur is believed to have originated as an inclusive term for the various tribes who've inhabited this region since time immemorial.  

Historical names



Sheep at Kashgar Market by Kiwi Mikex

The region also has some historical names which have dropped out of use, some of them (like High Tartary) sound impossibly romantic to my 21st century ears!  To kick off my research into the region, I'm reading a fascinating book called Wild West China: the Taming of Xinjiang by Christian Tyler. He lists some of the region's other names, such as East Chagatay, Mugholistan, Chinese Turkestan (could be an interesting compromise?), Kashgaria, Altishahr, Little Bokhara and Serindia.  Wikipedia.org also refers to the name Qurighar which it says is the preferred name Uyghurs give to their homeland. 

Uyghur or Uighur?

My next issue was to decide on which spelling I should use, Uyghur or Uighur?  It's interesting that a search on the BBC's website suggests that there is no such country as Uyghuristan or East Turkestan, only Xinjiang.  Tibet, on the other hand, does exist, but I think this is in keeping with the fact that most Western readers would recognise the name Tibet, but probably not the official Chinese name for Tibet, which is Xizang.  The BBC does refer to the Uyghur people, but they use the Uighur spelling which, I guess, is also easier for an Anglophone readership. 

Old man in Khotan by Kiwi Mikex

I've plumped for the other option, for precisely the opposite reason, ie. it's difficult to spell/pronounce and therefore more exotic!  As a linguist, I also like the fact that Uyghur preserves vowel-harmony, which is important in Turkic languages.  I also believe the way that we pronounce this word in English (ie. wee-gur) isn't entirely accurate.  I first learnt about Uyghur people through Russian language sources and the way Russians and Uzbeks pronounce this word is with a slightly more complicated vowel sound at the beginning, which I feel is reflected better in the Uy- spelling. 

Beyond the politics

I think there is always a peaceful solution to situations like the one in Xinjiang.  Unfortunately, it's not always the time for peace and I'm not sure how ready this part of the world is for what the future has in store for it.  Anyway, now that I've explained my choices and made my political excuses, I'm hoping I'll be able to move beyond the politics to explore the music, history, culture and food of this little-known part of the world.  I'm sure I will have other opportunities, in future blogs, to delve more closely into Han Chinese, Kazakh, Hui (etc) cultures, so a lot of what I'll be blogging about, this time round, will involve Uyghur music, food and culture.  Nevertheless, I'll try to keep an eye on the region's whole population, present and past, to fairly represent the contribution each has made to Xinjiang, as it is today. 

Image credits:

The stunning photos that I have added to this blogpost are by flickuser Kiwi Mikex aka Mike Locke from Nelson, New Zealand.  He doesn't seem to have a website, but you can see more of Mike's photos at http://www.flickr.com/people/mikex/ - there really are some amazing images there.  Thanks Mike for sharing these with us, using the Creative Commons License.